Previews

Mass Effect

Spiffy:

Combat feels intuitive and fun.

Iffy:

We need to see more of the game.

BioWare's Mass Effect is one of the most highly anticipated RPG releases in recent years. This Xbox 360 exclusive appears to be the spiritual successor to Knights of the Old Republic, offering up a storyline filled with galactic intrigue, amazing alien designs and a new approach to dialogue and character interaction that may well change the way we view modern role-playing games. While we've had several opportunities to check out Mass Effect in the recent past, we just now had the chance to get our hands on the game at the 2007 E3 Media & Business Summit. We got a firmer grasp of the game's design and combat mechanics, as well as a good look at how the overall development is shaping up.

No Spray and Pray

One of the first things we wanted to learn about was the nuts and bolts of the combat system, which we were able to take in with our hands-on demonstration. We took control of Commander Shephard in an outdoor environment, drawing his trusty rifle and bearing down on a pair of floating alien gas pods. A couple well-aimed shots burst these bladder-like creatures like icky green gunk-filled balloons. The target reticule is relatively large, meaning it isn't very difficult to hone in on opposing forces, but every shot isn't necessarily an automatic hit.

The way combat works in Mass Effect is essentially a numbers game that takes your weapon choice and range into account to determine accuracy. Closing in on an enemy will make your shots more accurate, but won't necessarily affect the amount of damage you deal. This is not the case with the shotgun, however, since that weapon fires a cone-shaped spray of particles, meaning that the closer you are to an enemy, the more of this spray will hit, causing more damage. It was also interesting to note that all weapons have infinite ammunition reserves, so the only thing keeping you from firing at will or abusing something like a sniper rifle is the positioning of your targets and the environment.

Mass Effect offers up movement and defensive options to put into play as well. Running Shephard up against a wall, tree, or other obstacle will back him up against it, just as you'd expect in a full-fledged shooter like Rainbow Six or Gears of War. Ducking around corners is an option, and you can also zoom in on enemies to increase the size of your target reticule. Movement around the battlefield is key, and just as in Gears of War, you can hold down a button to sprint.